Educational Games

This school year I'm trying to be more proactive with playing a game with the children at the start of school.
Here are some we've been enjoying. I'll also include some online games they play sometimes.
(I'll add more as we find them- most recent first):


Storyonics
This is a fun aid to making up stories together.

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Sum Fun
This is brilliant! The children totally got into it and didn't want to stop playing. Great maths fun. We made up various extra rules as we went along.

Image result for sum fun images



Geography Snap

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Times Tables Snap
These can be used to play snap or pelmanism with.

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Line Links
This is similar to Conintuo (see below).

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Twists & Turns
We all love this game. So much quicker to play than 'proper' Scrabble, so it's perfect for school.

Scrabble Twist and Turn (New Version)

Continuo
A brilliant, extremely easy game to pick up.



Mapominoes
Helps you get to know the countries of Europe, especially the more obscure ones and involves logical thinking. A very quick and easy game to pick up.



Maths on Toast
This is a fun time-filler. We use the cards for playing snap and pelmanism.



3 Sided Dominoes: dot.dom



This is a fun, quick game to get our brains working in the mornings at the start of school.

Monarchs of England

At first this game felt a little overwhelming when I read the instructions but it's actually really simple to pick up, especially if you've played Phase 10 or Rummikub- it's the same idea and a really good way to learn about the English monarchs.




Geography Game

This is part of the My Father's World, Exploring Countries and Cultures curriculum. There are 6 continent maps and you have to remember where the countries are. Some have a bonus for capital cities. We love it!

Rhyme Robber

This is an Orchard Toys game. Brilliant for K's age (although they all enjoy playing it together).



Card Games

Sometimes we just need to play card games together. They're great for learning strategising, turn taking, team work, losing and winning well etc.

I've found this book, Easy Card Games for Kids really useful for learning new games. We particularly like Chase The Ace. It is always good for the children to have various card games up their sleeve so they can play them with friends on visits. As part of their language lessons we sometimes play card games in K so they can learn how to tell instructions etc..

Lollipop- Multiplication Game


I got the basic idea of this from a blog (I'm sorry I can't remember which one) but I've expanded it a lot. The children love it!

What you need:
1. lots of craft sticks
2. pot
3. egg timer
4. bean bags/balls
5. mixing bowl/bucket

How to make it:
Write multiplication questions on the sticks at one end.
On some write these instructions (as well as multiplications):
*Take 1 (about 7)
*Give 1  (about 5)
*Ball      (about 5)
Leave some blank and write on them:
*Ball        (about 7)
*Busted    (about 5)

How to play:
1. Put all the sticks- writing down- in a pot
2. Take a stick and do what it says:
 *answer the multiplication question (use the timer with discretion according to the level of the child)
*if the stick also says "Take 1" , you can take another player's stick only if you get your sum right
*if the stick also says "Give 1": you have to give your stick to another player if you get your sum wrong
*if it says "Ball" you can try to throw the 3 (or however many you decide) balls into the bucket. For however many you get in, you  gain that number of extra sticks from the pot (as well as the one you answered correctly)
*if the stick just says "Ball"- you don't need to answer a question, just throw the balls and earn some sticks!
*if it says "Busted" you have to put ALL your sticks back in the pot
*decide when you want to finish eg. first to 10 sticks wins, or for a certain time limit. If two players are tied, they carry on until one pulls ahead.

Football Multiplication Bingo



You can print these for free from activity village
Really good fun and a quick time filler.

Online Maths Games

Topmarks Maths has lots of maths games (there are other subjects too for different ages)

mad4maths Fun times table games

History Pictionay



This game comes from our history course, 'Mystery of History'.
Each week they set a test covering part of the course and one of the tests was pictionary. It was so much fun! You have to say if its a person, place or thing then draw it and the others guess.

BrainBox

We love our growing collection of these! As well as playing the game, I also get them to share a fact from their card that they found interesting.

Story Cubes



Roll the dice and tell a story. Good for all ages to work together.

Art Cards



Not so much a game this one, but we enjoy it! Each child takes a card. They look at the painting, then I gather them in. One-by-one I get them to guess the name, artist, date, where it was painted and where you can see it. Whoever's guess is nearest wins. We then talk about the painting, if and why we like it, which is our favourite of the 4 chosen etc. We also watch  khan academy clips about the paintings.

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